George Shuffler (1925 to 2014) played bass and guitar with the Stanley Brothers on and off from the end of 1951 until Carter Stanley’s death in 1966. The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame lists him for both instruments and singles out his flashy walking bass. This page covers his bass playing. He also has a guitar page for the crosspicking style he invented. He entered the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2011.
Why Shuffler matters
Shuffler showed that a bluegrass bass could drive a band, not just keep time. On the Stanley Brothers’ first Mercury session in 1953 he walked the bass in a hard four beats to the bar, and that session is counted among the Stanleys’ best. Bass players who came after him, including Tom Gray, went out of their way to hear him play.
Life and career
Shuffler was born on April 11, 1925, in Valdese, North Carolina, the second of nine children. He got his first guitar at ten. In the 1940s he played electric guitar with the Carolina Boys, then worked with the Melody Mountain Boys, the Bailey Brothers, and Jim and Jesse.
Late in 1951 Carter Stanley called and asked him to join the Stanley Brothers on radio in Kentucky. That first stint lasted most of 1952 and included the Stanleys’ last Columbia session. He played on their first Mercury session in August 1953. For the next 13 years he came and went from the band, and Carter often called him in for recording dates even when he was not a member. At a September 1959 session, for example, Shuffler played bass while Bill Napier crosspicked the guitar.
After Carter died in 1966, Shuffler played bass with Don Reno and Bill Harrell from 1967 to 1969. He also returned to Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys for short stints. From 1974 he sang and played gospel music with the Shuffler Family. He died in Valdese on April 7, 2014.
Playing style
The Hall of Fame describes Shuffler’s bass as flamboyant walking-style playing. On songs such as Won’t You Be Mine and I’m Lonesome Without You from the 1953 Mercury session, he walks a driving 4/4 line under the Stanleys’ duets. The walk moves the band forward and fills the gaps between the vocal lines.
Shuffler was a working sideman in a small band. When the Stanleys needed a lead guitar more than a bass, he switched instruments. That habit of listening to what the band lacked runs through both his bass and his guitar work.
Influences and legacy
Shuffler played beside Carter Stanley and Ralph Stanley for most of his career, and with Don Reno after Carter’s death. Tom Gray of the Country Gentlemen recalled going with fellow bassist Ed Ferris to hear Shuffler play with Reno and Harrell. Jack Cooke later held the Stanley bass job for almost 40 years.
Signature tunes and songs
Won’t You Be Mine I’m Lonesome Without You A Life of Sorrow, which he helped write.
Essential recordings
The Stanley Brothers, Mercury sessions (1953) Over the Sunset Hill, Ralph Stanley (1968)
Awards and honors
IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award (1996) North Carolina Heritage Award (2007) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (2011)
What to learn from Shuffler
Take a mid-tempo Stanley Brothers song in G, such as Bury Me Beneath the Willow, and walk the bass through the whole thing. Play four quarter notes in every bar and step from one chord root to the next by scale tones. Then pull back to root and fifth on the verses and walk only on the breaks. The skill to steal is choosing when the walk helps the singers and when it gets in their way.
Sources
George Saunders Shuffler, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum George Shuffler: A Career Overview, Bluegrass Today Tom Gray on George Shuffler, Bluegrass Today Awards by Category, IBMA
Related players
See the bass players hub and the bass guide. Shuffler also has a guitar page. Jack Cooke followed him as the Stanley bass player, and Tom Gray learned from his walking lines. Cedric Rainwater walked the bass in Monroe’s band before him.